of which we have a knowledge.

Situated on a continent, supposed to have been selected by the Creator
as the spot on which to place the first of the human race; upon which,
as is told in holy writ, at the Divine command, light first burst upon
the world, it is singular that this part of Asia should so long have
remained in darkness, and that even now conjecture loses itself in
searching for the origin of this peculiar people.

If we take the first book of the Pentateuch for our guide, we must come
to the conclusion, that in the confusion of tongues at the building of
Babel, when the Lord said, as is described in the eleventh chapter of
that book, "Let us go down and there confound their language, so that
they may not understand one another's speech;" "and from thence the Lord
did scatter them abroad upon the face of the earth;" that this nation
formed a portion of those presumptuous builders, who, in their
migrations, settled down upon the banks of the Yellow River, and there
multiplying, gradually peopled this vast surface.

Their early traditions, indeed, appear to extend beyond the period of
the flood, and from these the "dark idolater of chance," who would
rejoice to prove that "Book of Books" a splendid fable, draws his
deductions. But how he fails. The learned men of China, those held in
the greatest repute amongst a people where such a reputation is not
easily obtained, themselves admit, that the history of their empire in
its infancy, is, for the most part, apocryphal, and that the myths of
these early writers are only to be considered as such, and are not to
affect its chronology.

Indeed, the character of the language, when it refers to superior
powers, has such a tendency to exaggeration, as to afford great
facilities to those who would construe it to suit this particular
purpose.[1]

The Chinese historians speak of their Celestial Emperor, who reigned
forty-five thousand years! They also name a Terrestrial Emperor, whose
reign extended eighteen thousand years! And they had, in addition, a
Human Emperor, who occupied the throne for the same period, in
succession. There is then their fabulous period, which commences with
the creation of man, when Pwan-Koo (First Man) was produced. After
which the Celestial Emperor, Teen-Hwang-She, "Imperial Heaven,"
settled the years, taking eighteen thousand years to perform this
task. Succeeded by Te-Hwang-She, "Royal Earth,"--who is said to have
devoted the same perio